Seattle Supersonics: The NBA on the Move
It seemed oddly fitting when the Sacramento Kings hosted Oklahoma City on Feb. 9. The former Sonics were playing a team whose owners are looking for a new arena and whose blogs were forced to ask – maybe even tell – fans to chant and bring flyers that read “HERE-WE-STAY,” hoping TNT’s national audience would hear it on their only national TV appearance.
The game sold out and enough people wore dark colors that Kevin Harlan called it a blackout. When the Kings roared to an 11-2 lead, the crowd erupted in a frenzy. It was hard not to think back to the 2002 playoffs. It would be a real shame if the Kings left town. Unfortunately, that’s a real possibility.
For any fan of any sport, losing a team sucks. What happened at the end in Seattle and what continues to happen in Oklahoma City has to peeve any Sonics fan. After all, they did not take the move nicely: one particularly motivated group even created a two-hour documentary on the events. Even now, they haunt still, showing up at Thunder games in green and gold, waving their jerseys like Jacob Marley rattling his chains.
This is the legacy of the Seattle Supersonics: the former team is a specter that looms over the NBA’s troubled franchises; a cautionary tale for teams looking for new stadiums and a willing crowd for any ownership group looking outside.
This is what’s happening now in Sacramento. The Kings are having a problem with their home arena, the Power Balance Pavilion. By most standards, it’s old, having opened in 1988. It’s a small arena, seating just 17,317 for basketball, marginally ahead of New Orleans for the lowest capacity of any NBA team. But that’s just the capacity. Last year, the Kings drew an average of 13,890 per game, second-lowest in the NBA. Indeed, between 2008 and 2011, they were one of the lowest drawing teams in the league.
[php snippet=1]
And their on-court issues aren’t making them a must-see, either. Thus far in 2012, the Kings are on their second coach of the season and limping around with a record of 10-17. They’re bad on both ends of the floor (ranked 27th in both offense and defense) and have a SRS of -6.79, lowest in the Western Conference. Although they’re a team with some young talent in Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins, they’re underperforming.
Their problems don’t end on the floor, however. The Kings owners, the Maloof brothers, are trying to find a replacement for the Pavilion.
There’s been talk of building a new stadium for a few years, but it’s complicated. There’s a plan to lease city parking lots to raise money for a new sports and entertainment complex, a move that could bring as much as $200 million. In addition, there’s a report that the city is looking for $80 million from the league and team, basically as a lease agreement for the new arena. But there’s a deadline of March 1 for the city to show the NBA and the Maloof brothers a funding plan for this new arena. If one isn’t in place, the Maloofs can explore moving to another city.
Which brings us to the ghost of the Supersonics.
As it stands now, Seattle’s KeyArena would be the smallest arena in the NBA, with a capacity over 17,000. There hasn’t been much change to the place since the Sonics left town. These days, it’s primarily home to Seattle University’s Redhawks and the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. It’s not exactly a suitable home, except maybe short-term. So why is it being discussed as a possible home for the Kings?
If a team is to come to Seattle, a new arena would be built: exactly what Chrisopher Hansen is planning to do. The multimillionaire Seattle hedge-fund manager told the city he’s looking to build a new arena by Safeco Field, but only after buying and moving a NBA team. The issue of financing is amazingly clear for a pro-sized stadium: Hansen’s group would invest close to $300 million in building the arena.
Per a Seattle Times report, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn is taking this issue seriously, and so are the people in Seattle. Just read any report of the announcement. The speculation has even crossed over into other sports, with rumors of a NHL team moving to the city as well.
But there isn’t anything set in stone, not yet. The pivotal deadline in Sacramento is still a few boxes down on the calendar and the Maloofs still own the team. And the Sonics jerseys are still seen here and there in the NBA.
There’s a ghost in the Kings’ building, but it’s not just haunting them. The Sonics’ legacy is in every small market, even the safe ones (just like Sacramento was a decade ago). If an owner really wants to move, they can help create the conditions for it to happen.
On that night less than two weeks ago, a pair of Sonics draft picks lit up the Kings: Kevin Durant scored 27 points, Russell Westbrook, 33. But the Kings played well as a team, forcing turnovers and controlling offensive rebounds. They hung on to win 106-101. One battle is over, but the big one’s still looming.
[php snippet=1]
